This is obviously not glamour. It was shot for a friend who is a comedian and background actor. He's late 40's and has lived a bit of what Rolando calls "the good life" but that much retouching, when he'll appear in person anyway, is not an option. A couple people at his last audition asked where he got the shot, and I've already had one inquiry.

I'd like just a bit more background separation (next time I'll pump up the hair light)., but in the shots I did on a light background he didn't have the expression I wanted.

I think it works reasonably well as a headshot type photo. I think I'd include the top of the head rather than cropping it off. As far as light retouching, I would think this would be acceptable since most actors/comedians will use makeup in their work and so people would expect it in a head shot. I think you captured a nice note of humor in the shot and it portrays as since of like-ability (is that a word). When you reshoot you might be sure the collar lays down flat rather than curled up in front.

Nice clean image of a guy. I would probably do one with more and one with less cross lighting to enhance and reduce his skin texture. For this image, I would definitely not crop the top of his head off.

Can't see the image. If others are having the same problem, that will limit the responses.

Glad it showed up for you. I have noted lately that this happens from time to time with photos hosted outside of G1. They'll show up one time, but not the next, and then suddenly show up again. One trick that I've found that often works is to right click, do properties, and then copy the url. Stick this into the address bar of your browser (new tab or window) and then you'll see the photo. Come back to G1 and refresh the page and it will show up. I personally think there is some sort of cache issue but that is just a guess.

as far as the image, what about flat light to hide imperfections by removing the shadows and I would crop tighter to make his face take up more of the image. Seems like too much shirt is showing. I also agree about cutting off the top.

Thanks, folks. I had the same problem with the image not showing up. Next time I'll try hosting it here.

As to the top of the head, I agree. That's actually a bad habit of mine, probably carrying over from the smaller viewfinder of my 35mm. I have to watch that.

RFS, I'll also have to keep an eye on the collar. He originally had it wide open showing all the chains, which he didn't want to remove. There is definitely a lot of "texture" in his face. I did touch up a bit of it.

Lighting was a large octobox , about 15 degrees to camera right and a grid hair light on a boom above. Powdering him up a bit is a good idea. Ironically, we shot this in a salon, where he is a hair stylist/cosmetologist.

Bob, my personal preference is the much tighter crop, like Kayti below, but I was told by the agency to include more shoulders. Apparently the industry "standard" keeps changing from tight, to wider, all the way to 3/4 body shots.

Thanks for the comments. I put his name in plain text at the bottom and he used it at an open call. The agency liked it.